Two Posts Today

I have two posts up this Monday, at different sites.  The first post, “Developing Your Internal Editor,” an be found at Magical Words, the blog on the craft and business of writing that I maintain with fellow fantasy authors, Faith Hunter, Misty Massey, and C.E. Murphy.  The second, “When Did You Know…?”, can be found at SFNovelists.com, another collaborative blog that I share with a group of approximately 100 fantasy and science fiction authors.  I hope you’ll visit both sites and enjoy today’s posts.

Hello from the Carolinas!

Greetings from the road!  I’m currently at the home of my good friend and fellow Magical Words blogger, Faith Hunter.  She and her husband, Rod, have been wonderful hosts.  Last night we had a signing with another fellow MW blogger, Misty Massey, and also author Gail Z Martin.  It was not the best attended signing I’ve ever had, but it might well have been the most fun.  Italian dinner afterwards, also great fun.  All in all, a good start to the trip.  Today we’ll be heading up to Charlotte, NC for ConCarolinas.  Hope to see some of you there.

Today at Magical Words, we have a special guest blogger.  Author Mindy Klasky has posted a piece on her career path and is now answering questions and responding to comments.  Stop by the site and say hello!

Sunday Afternoon Choice…

So it comes down to this:  I have a couple of hours left in my Sunday afternoon, and I can use that time to post something here about God-knows-what, or I can take a little nap.  Actually, it’s a surprisingly easy choice. 

Later.

Guest Blogger Bart Leib at Magical Words

Today at http://magicalwords.net, the group blog I share with fellow fantasy writers Faith Hunter, Misty Massey, and C.E. Murphy, we have a special guest.  Bart Leib, co-owner and editor of Crossed Genres SF/F Magazine.  Crossed Genres is a monthly e-zine that has themed issues. Every month, that theme is combined with sf or fantasy in a group of stories.  Each issue also “contains articles and interviews about SF/F, writing, and the publishing industry, with the goal of informing aspiring writers.”

In today’s post, Bart talks about putting the issues together as well as his goals (and those of his wife and co-editor, K.T. Holt) for the zine. Please visit the site and enjoy Bart’s post.

A Post About Marketing

Today I have another guest post up, this one at the blog of my friend Alan Baxter, an Australian speculative fiction writer and all around great guy.  His blog can be found at http://www.alanbaxteronline.com/.  So stop by Alan’s site, read the post, and enjoy!

A Post About Characterization

Today’s post on characterization, can be found at the blogs of my good friend Jana Oliver.  Jana is a terrific writer and a wonderful convention presence.  She knows the business, she knows her craft, and she has a sharp sense of humor.  Her blogs can be found at http://janaoliver.blogspot.com and http://cymreiges.livejournal.com.  I hope you’ll visit one of her blogs and enjoy today’s post.

Two Posts

Fresh off of a small vacation, I’m jumping in with both feet this Monday morning.  I’d like to direct your attention to two posts that I’ve put up today, both of them geared toward writing and writers.  The first can be found at http://magicalwords.net, the group blog I maintain with fellow fantasy writers Faith Hunter, Misty Massey, and C. E. Murphy.  It’s kind of a nuts and bolts piece called “Why Divide Your Books Into Chapters?”  The post grew out of a question from a reader about whether chapter breaks were necessary.  This is my response.

 

The second can be found at http://www.sfnovelists.com, another group site I share with approximately one hundred other professional writers of fantasy and science fiction.  This post, “For Whom Do We Write?” is more philosophical than the first.  It deals with questions of creativity; where the impulse to create comes from and how it ought to be harnessed.

 

I hope you’ll visit both sites, and I hope you enjoy the posts.

Capturing the Elusive Novel

Today’s post on my creative process can be found at the blog site of my good friend and fellow fantasy writer S.L. Farrell. http://sleigh.livejournal.com.  Steve is having a number of us fantasists stop by as part of his “Capturing The Elusive Novel” series. So visit his site and enjoy the post.

Without a Net

A post today by Faith Hunter over at the group blog she and I maintain with Misty Massey and C. E. Murphy (http://magicalwords.net) discusses the latest hard news coming out of the publishing industry.  Harper-Collins is cutting back imprints and letting people go.  Not good.  Not good at all.  The publishing industry is hurting right now, just like every other industry.  I don’t really want to dwell on it.  Faith’s post in very informative, as is the discussion that follows.

As I mention in my comments there, I am currently walking the wire without a net.  For the first time since the beginning of my career, I’m writing a book that isn’t contracted, that may never be contracted.  It’s a bit scary, to tell the truth.  But as Faith suggests in her reply, there is also something liberating about it.  I have no deadline, which is nice.  (Though I’m actually writing this book faster than I have any other.  I mean I’m flying through it.  Ten pages a day.)  But more than the lack of a deadline, I have the sense with this book that it could take my career in any number of directions.  I could sell it to Tor and continue on the path I’m on, which is not a bad path at all.  Or I could sell it to a new editor with a different publisher and potentially take my career in a whole new direction.  Or I could fail to sell it entirely and find a new job.  Ah, the possibilities….

Anyway, right now I’m focusing on the fun part.  Writing this book is just a hoot.  I love it.  I mean I LOVE this book.  I can’t wait to get to work every morning.  It’s coming out exactly as I had hoped it would.  And that is a fine feeling.  But it will be interesting (to say the least) to see if it sells….

This Year’s Blogging

Last year, my first full year of blogging, I set out to post everyday, just to see if I could do it.  And I made it through April or May doing just that.  After that, I stopped worrying about it, but I still did my best to post as often as possible.  We’re a week and half into 2009 and I’ve already missed two days.  It’s not that I don’t care, or that I’ve decided that I don’t like blogging.  But I have decided that it’s going to be more about quality than quantity this year.  I’ll post when I have something to say and won’t post just for the sake of doing so.  Life’s too short.